Kalyani's Cooking Recipes

Pulpy Orange Honey Lemonade

2020-05-19T21:37:00.002-05:00

It was a surprise when my son demanded for orange juice today. I decided to make it as a lemonade version with no sugar. I used navel oranges but you use any variety of orange for the same

Ingredients:

Navel oranges - 2
Lemon - 1/4
Honey - 2 Tablespoons
Salt - a pinch
Water - 1/2 cup

Preparation:

Peel the orange skin and add orange slices to the juicer
Squeeze lemon juice into the juicer
Add water, honey and salt
Run the juicer in liquidify mode for 2 minutes

Enjoy your Orange Honey Lemonade. Do not filter to enjoy it with pulp

Note:

You can use ice cubes if you like it to be cold
If you don’t have a juicer you can use a regular mixer with juice jar

Pasta in two styles

2020-01-03T22:34:00.000-06:00

It was a Friday Dinner time and I thought of making Pasta, that is when one voice at home says "I need a cheesy version" and other says "I need it spicy". This became my motivation for cooking that evening and also restart my blogging again in 2020 :).

Cheesy Carrot, Spinach Italian Style
Ingredients:
1. Pasta - I used Penne for this recipe. You can chose any style you like - 1 cup
2. Carrot - 1
3. Tomato - 1/2
4. Garlic - 1 clove finely chopped
5. Spinach - 1/2 cup
6. Milk - 1/4 cup
7. Salt - to taste
8. Olive oil - 2 tablespoon
9. Butter - 1 tablespoon
10. Italian spice mix - 1/2 tablespoon
11. Grated Cheese - 1/4 cup

Preparation

Boil 2 cups of water, add little salt and few drops of olive oil, add pasta and cook for 5 to 6 minutes and strain the water
Grind carrots, tomato, garlic into a coarse paste
Heat butter and olive oil in a pan and add the ground paste
When it starts cooking and the raw smell leaves, add milk and continue cooking in medium flame
When the sauce starts to thicken, reduce to low flame and add the herb mix and salt and the roughly chopped spinach
Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes and add the pasta and cheese and mix well to coat the sauce

Yummy cheesy carrot spinach pasta is ready to serve hot... Do not shy out to add more cheese :)

Carrot, Spinach Indian Style

Ingredients:
1. Pasta - I used Penne for this recipe. You can chose any style you like - 1 cup
2. Carrot - 1
3. Tomato - 1/2
4. Garlic - 1 clove finely chopped
5. Spinach - 1/2 cup
6. Onion - 1/4 cup chopped
7. Salt - to taste
8. Olive oil - 2 tablespoon
9. Red chilly powder - 1/2 tablespoon
10. Coriander powder - 1/4 tablespoon
11. Garam masala - a pinch
12. Pepper powder - a pinch
13. Turmeric powder -a pinch

Preparation

Boil 2 cups of water, add little salt and few drops of olive oil, add pasta and cook for 5 to 6 minutes and strain the water
Grind carrots, tomato, garlic and spinach into a coarse paste
Heat olive oil in a pan and add chopped onion and saute it for 2 minutes
Add the ground paste and cook for 5 minutes in a medium flame
Add red chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt and cook the sauce until the raw smell leaves
Add garam masala, pepper powder & pasta and mix with the sauce well
Cook for 5 minutes in low flame

Hot spicy Carrot, Spinach pasta is ready to serve.

Upma Kozhukattai (Steamed rice balls)

2018-05-05T22:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a simple and healthy breakfast/dinner recipe.

Ingredients:
1. Idly rava - 1 cup
2. Oil - 2 tablespoons
3. Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
4. Channa dhal - 1 teaspoon
5. Asafoetida - a pinch
6. Red chilies - 2 to 3
7. Grated coconut - 2 tablespoons
8. Salt - to taste
9. Curry leaves - 5 to 6
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan and season it with mustard seeds
2. Once it splutters, add urad dhal, channa dhal and fry well until it turns golden brown
3. Add hing, red sillies, curry leaves, grated coconuts and saute for couple of minutes
4. Add 3 cups of water and required salt and bring it to boil
5. Once the water boils well, simmer the stove and add the idly rava slowly and keep mixing. At this stage, it is likely to form lumps, so you need to mix continuously
6. Once the rava is cooked nicely switch off the store. Now the upma is ready. You can have this as a dish by itself
7. Now let this cool completely
8. For the next step, fill the idly cooker with about 1 inch of water and bring it to the stove
9. Meanwhile start making small balls with the upma and place them on the idly plates and steam it for about 5 to 6 minutes
10. Remove it from the flame and serve it hot with any chutney

Tips:
1. You can dry roast idly rava for 3 to 4 minutes in little oil to make it cook faster
2. Once you make the upma kozhukattai, you can dust them in idly podi for additional flavor

Adai

2018-04-21T18:43:00.003-05:00

My mom prepares adai in a different way but I learnt this version of adai recipe from my mother-in-law. Adai is one of the best dishes that has lot of protein content. You can have this for breakfast or dinner. Aviyal is one of the best side dish for Adai. Alternatively, you can also have any chutneys as a side dish.

Ingredients:

1. Boiled rice - 1/2 cup

2. Raw rice - 1/2 cup

3. Toor dhal - 1/4 cup

4. Bengal gram dhal - 1/4 cup

5. Moong dhal - a handful

6. Urad dhal - 1 tablespoon

7. Red chillies - 6 to 8

8. Garlic - 10 pods

9. Fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon

10. Salt - to taste

11. Hing - a pinch

12. Chopped onions

13. Chopped curry leaves

14. Chopped ginger

15. Coarsely ground pepper and cumin seeds

16. Oil - to fry

Preparation:

1. Soak rice and dhals together for around 2 hours

2. Coarse grind with garlic and fennel seeds

3. You can let it ferment for couple of hours or make adai instantly

4. When you are ready to make adai, prepare finely chopped onions, curry leave, chopped ginger and add it to the adai batter

5. Make a coarse powder of pepper and cumin seeds and fry it in less than a teaspoon of oil and add it to the batter

6. Add finely chopped coriander leaves to the batter and you are ready to made the adai

7. Heat a dosa tava and make the adai like you prepare dosa

Tips:

1. You can use finely chopped drumstick leaves in the batter

2. You can avoid garlic if you don't like it

3. You can use the same batter in the kuzhi paniyaram pan to make Kara Paniyaram

4. This batter can be refrigerated and can be used up to a week

Paneer Kurma

2018-04-19T20:41:00.001-05:00

A simple and quick recipe with Paneer that will go well with both rice and chapathis/rotis.

Ingredients:

1. Paneer - 1 pack chopped into cubes

2. Onions - 1/2 cup (chopped thin slices)

3. Tomato - 1/2 cup (chopped finely)

4. Bay leaves - 2 to 3

5. Cinnamon - a small stick

6. Cloves - 3 to 4

7. Cardamom - 1

8. Coconut - 1/4 cup

9. Peppercorns - 5 to 6

10. Red chilly powder - 1 tablespoon

11. Salt - to taste

12. Oil - 2 tablespoon

13. Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

14. Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon

Preparation:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and shallow fry the paneer cubes for 4 to 5 minutes in medium flame.

2. Prepare hot water of 2 cups and once the paneer turns golden brown, drop it in the hot water. This process will keep the paneer soft

3. Add the remaining oil in the same pan and season with bay leaves and onions

4. Once the onions turn translucent, add ginger/garlic paste and fry well

5. When the raw smell leaves, add tomatoes and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes

6. Add all spices - turmeric powder, red chilly powder and salt and mix well

7. Saute for another 2 to 3 minutes and add the fried paneer and mix it with the masala

8. Add the hot water that the paneer was soaked in and bring it to boil for 5 minutes

9. Meanwhile prepare the paste with coconut, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns and cardamon

10. Add this paste to the mixture and cook in low flame for 5 to 6 minutes

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot.

Tips:

1. You can use poppy seeds/cashews to grind the paste thick

2. Add mint leaves while grinding or seasoning for additional flavor

3. Skip the frying process of Paneer if you like to avoid more oil

4. I used green peas as my son loves them, this is optional

Chicken Curry

2018-04-04T00:51:00.002-05:00

I stopped eating Non-vegetarian over 5 years ago and so I had not cooked much of non-veg as well since then. However, I decided to resume cooking of Non-veg again for my husband recently. One of my friends was coming craving for chicken, so I wanted to try something new and flavorful and this chicken curry is the outcome of that experiment :).

Preparation Time: 1 hour Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 2 pounds

2. Red chilly powder - 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon

3. Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon

4. Yogurt (Curd)- 2 tablespoon

5. Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon

6. Mint leaves - 6 to 8

7. Coriander leaves - 15 to 20 strands

8. Green chilies - 2

9. Salt - to taste

10. Lemon juice - 1 teaspoon

11. Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 teaspoon

12. Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

13. Oil - 6 to 7 tablespoon

14. Curry leaves - 8 to 10

15. Onion - finely chopped 1 cup

Preparation:
1. Make a wet paste with Mint leaves, coriander leaves and green chilies
2. Clean chicken and add all the ingredients (except oil, curry leaves and onion) and the ground paste and mix it well
3. Refrigerate the marinated chicken for atleast an hour. (This time when I made this dish, I left the marination for 6 hours)
4. Bring the chicken to room temperature before you start cooking
5. Heat oil in pan and add curry leaves and onions and saute well
6. Once onion becomes translucent, add the marinated chicken mixture and mix well
7. Close the pan with lid and start cooking in medium flame for 20 to 25 minutes. You can add small quantity of water (if required as the chicken mixture will start leaving water as we have added yogurt during marination)
8. You will start seeing the masala getting nicely coated on the chicken and also the oil leaving out. At this stage check the chicken must also have got cooked nicely (if not continue cooking for another 5 to 6 minutes in a low flame)

Chicken curry is ready to be served. I made this more as a thokku/masala style that can be had with Roti/chapathi or rice. However, if you want this to be like a semi gravy you can add some water to adjust the consistency of the curry.

Tips:
1. Alter the quantity of green chilies and chilly powder according to your spice level
2. Use Kashmiri red chilly powder for extra flavor
3. The same recipe can be made with potato or paneer for vegetarians like me :)

Radish Greens Poriyal

2018-04-04T00:23:00.001-05:00

I try my best to include greens in our menu atleast twice a week. Also, I have the anxiety to try out different greens and this is one such experiment made out of radish greens. I visited whole foods for my grocery shopping and the small radish bunches with fresh greens on it caught my eyes and I grabbed them. I have cooked radish greens before and made curry with peanuts ( I will try to share this recipe later), but this is a attempt with a different flavor. Hope you like it.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Radish greens - finely chopped - 1 1/2 cups

2. Onions - finely chopped - 1/4 cup

3. Oil - 1/2 tablespoon

4. Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

5. Curry leaves - 5 to 6

6. Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

7. Salt - to taste

To Grind:

1. Coconut - 3 to 4 tablespoon

2. Turmeric powder - a pinch

3. Garlic pods - 2

4. Red chilies - 1 to 2 (depending on your spice level)

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, when it splutters add cumin seeds and onions and saute until onion becomes translucent
2. Now add the radish greens ( i used only leaves and discarded the stems) and stir well and cook it for 3 to 4 minutes
3. Meanwhile dry grind all ingredients given under 'to grind'. Do not add water
4. Add the ground mixture and required salt to the pan and mix well
5. Sprinkle few drops of water and close the pan and cook in slow flame for 7 to 8 minutes until the raw smell goes away

Radish greens is ready to be served and it goes well with Sambhar or Rasam rice.

Tips:
1. You can avoid garlic if you don't like the flavor
2. Instead of seasoning cumin seeds, you can grind it along with the other ingredients
3. Use small onions (shallots) for additional flavor

Lemon Ginger Rasam

2018-04-01T22:05:00.000-05:00

Here I share the recipe of Lemon rasam, one of my favorites. The specialty of this rasam is that it does not require any rasam powder. Green chillies and ginger gives it the required flavor.

Preparation Time: 5 mins Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:
1. Toor dhal - 3 Tablespoon
2. Green chilies - 2
3. Ginger - 1/2 inch
4. Tomato - 2
5. Lemon juice - 2 tablespoon
6. Salt - to taste
7. Oil - 1 tablespoon
8. Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
9. Curry leaves - 5 to 6
10. Coriander leaves
11. Red chilies - 2
12.Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
13. Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation:
1. Pressure cook toor dhal , smash nicely, add water and prepare 2 cups of dhal water
2. In a pan, add chopped tomatoes, slit green chilies, grated ginger, turmeric powder, salt, curry leaves and 5 to 7 strands of the coriander leaves (finely chopped) and 1 cup of water and bring it to boil
3. Once the tomatoes cook (takes approximately 4 to 5 minutes), add the dhal water and continue to boil for another 3 to 4 minutes
4. In another pan, heat oil and season with mustard seeds, red chilies, asafoetida and add it to the rasam pan
5. Add finely chopped coriander leaves (5 to 7 strands) to the rasam and remove it from the stove
6. Add lemon juice to the rasam and it is ready to be served

Tips:
1. You can use Ghee instead of oil for seasoning

Chow Chow kootu - Version 2

2018-03-31T14:24:00.001-05:00

I already have posted a version of chow chow kootu earlier, but this one has a slight variation and flavor.

Preparation Time: 15 mins Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients:
1. Chow chow (Chayote) - 1
2. Moong dhal - 1/4 cup
3. Onion - finely chopped - 1/4 cup
4. Tomato - finely chopped - 1/4 cup
5. Salt - to taste
6. Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
To Grind:
1. Coconut - 5 tablespoon
2. Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
3. Red chilies - 1 ( I used a long red chilly so one was enough, if using smaller ones you can use 2 or alter according to your spice preference)
4. Peppercorns - 5 to 6
To Temper:
1. Oil - 2 tablespoon
2. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
3. Curry leaves - 5 to 6
4. Asafoetida - pinch

Preparation:
1. Wash and soak Moong dhal for 15 minutes
2. Cut chow chow into small pieces and finely chop onion and tomato
3. In a pressure cooker, add the cut vegetables, moong dhal, turmeric powder, salt and water (vegetables and dhal should soak in water)
4. Leave it for 3 whistles
5. Grind the ingredients given under 'to grind' into a paste with little water
6. Once the pressure comes down, open the cooker and add the ground paste and bring it to boil (approximately takes 5 to 6 minutes). You may adjust the consistency of the kootu at this stage by adding water
7. Now prepare the seasoning - heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add asafoetida, curry leaves and red chilies
8. Add it to the kootu and switch off the stove

Chow chow kootu is ready to be served. This can be had with rice or rotis.

Tips:
1. If the kootu becomes watery, you can add 1 teaspoon of rice flour
2. You can use coconut oil for seasoning if you like coconut flavor
3. Instead of moong dhal,you can use masoor dhal

Barnyard Millet (Kudhiravali) Kichadi

2018-03-26T20:41:00.001-05:00

I was planning to prepare a quick dinner for us but also wanted it to be healthy. So, I made an attempt to make a millet dish and sharing the recipe here

Preparation time: 10 mins Cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients:
1. Barnyard millet - 1 cup
2. Onion - 1 medium sized
3. Tomato - 1 medium sized
4. Garlic - 6 to 7 pods
5. Green Bell pepper (capsicum) - 1/2
6. Green chilies - 1
7. Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
8. Salt - to taste
9. Ghee - 1 tablespoon
10. Oil - 1/2 tablespoon
11. Cloves - 2
12. Cinnamon - a small piece
13. Coriander leaves - for garnishing
14. Curry leaves - 2 to 3

Preparation:
1. Wash and soak the millet in water for 5 to 10 minutes
2. Meanwhile prepare the ingredients - Finely chop onions, tomatoes, bell pepper and slit green chilies
3. Heat oil in a pan and add cloves and cinnamon
4. When it splutters, add the onions, garlic, curry leaves and saute for couple of minutes
5. Add tomatoes and fry for another minute
6. Add turmeric powder, salt and cook until raw smell goes
7. Add the bell pepper and fry for another minute
8. Boil 1 1/2 cups of water separately and add it to the pan
9. Strain the millet, add it to the pan, mix it and close the pan with a lid. Keep it in a low flame for 4 to 5 minutes
10. Add Ghee and fluff the millet with a fork and switch off the stove and keep it closed with the lid for 5 to 6 minutes

Garnish with coriander leaves. Hot Barnyard millet kichadi is ready to be served. This didn't require any side dish.

Tips:
1. You can alter this recipe by adding any vegetable you like.

Tomato Rice (Version 2)

2018-03-26T20:22:00.000-05:00

I learnt this recipe from my Mother-in-Law which is very quick and easy to make and is one of our favorite lunch box item. Any simple side dish goes along with it very well.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Rice - 1 cup
2. Onion - 1 medium size
3. Tomato - 2 medium size
4. Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon
5. Turmeric powder - a pinch
6. Chilly powder - 1 tablespoon
7. Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
8. Mint - 1/4 cup
9. Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
10. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
11. Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon
12. Oil - 2 tablespoon
13. Salt - 1/2 tablespoon

Preparation:
1. Cook rice with required water (I use 2 cups of water for 1 cup rice). Make sure not to overcook it
2. Chop onions, tomatoes, mint and coriander leaves into fine pieces and keep aside
3. Heat oil in a pan and when hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add urad dhal and fry to golden brown color
4. Now add the chopped onions and saute until it is translucent, you may add little salt to cook the onions at this stage
5. Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell leaves
6. Add tomatoes and half the quantity of mint and coriander leaves and continue to saute well
7. When the tomatoes are almost half cooked, add the spices (turmeric powder, chilly powder and corinader powder, salt) and cook well
8. After 4 to 5 minutes, add the cooked rice and mix it well with the masala. Keep the stove in low flame at this time
9. Once the rice is thoroughly mixed with the masala, close the pan with a lid and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes
10. Garnish with remaining mint leaves and coriander leaves and serve

This goes well with simple potato curry, vadams, chips

Tips:
1. I generally use kashmiri chilly powder to give rich color
2. I dont add salt when cooking rice. If you are using salt in the rice, adjust the quantity of salt in the masala accordingly
3. I also added half teaspoon of home made her an masala powder for some flavor
4. This recipe is made with regular rice, but if you use Basmathi rice, it gives you additional flavor and taste
5. You can try this with leftover rice as well

Ghee Rice

2018-03-25T16:46:00.000-05:00

This is a quick lunch box lunch recipe that comes handy when you don't have any vegetables at home. This used to be my favorite food during childhood days and I loved it the way my Grandma prepares this rice for me.

Preparation Time: 10 mins Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:
1. Rice - 1.5 cups (Basmathi rice is preferred)
2. Ghee - 3 tablespoon
3. Cloves - 3
4. Cinnamon - 2 to 3 small pieces
5. Bay leaves - 2 to 3
6. Onion - 2 medium size
7. Green Chillies - 2
8. Garlic pods - 10 to 15
9. Cashews - 8 to 10
10. Salt - to taste
11. Coconut milk - 1 cup
12. Water - 1 cup

Preparation:

1. Wash and soak Basmathi rice for 10 minutes
2. Meanwhile, chop onions into thin long slices and slit green chillies
3. If you decide to make coconut milk, grind half cup of grated coconut with 1/3rd cup of water and extract milk. If you decided to use store bought coconut milk, you can skip this step
4. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker and when hot, throw in the spices - Cloves, Cinnamon, Bay leaves
5. Add garlic, cashes, onion and green chilies and saute for a minute or two until the onions become translucent
6. Drain the water and add rice to the cooker and fry for couple of minutes. Take care not to break the rice
7. Add coconut milk and water to the rices and required amount of salt and mix
8. Close the cooker and keep it in low flame for 6 to 8 minutes and switch off the stove
9. Open the lid after you rest it for 10 to 15 minutes to let the rice get cooked in that heat.

Fluff the rice with fork and serve it hot. Pakoda Kurma is an excellent combination for this rice. But it will also go well with other gravies

Mint Rasam

2018-03-24T21:29:00.000-05:00

Almost after 6 years of break , I decided to renew my cooking experiments and blogging again today :). Beginning my second phase with a simple recipe.

I like to try different types of Rasam. I happened to come across the mint rasam and gave it a variation in my style.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1. Mint leaves - 1/2 cup

2. Tamarind - gooseberry size

3. Dry coconut - 2 tablespoon

4. Red chilly - 2

5. Whole pepper - 1 teaspoon

6. Cumin - 1 teaspoon

7. Turmeric powder - a pinch

8. Oil - 1 tablespoon

9. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon

10. Curry leaves - 4 to 5

11. Jaggery - 1 teaspoon

12. Garlic - 3 to 4 pods

Preparation:

1. Soak tamarind in water and extract juice of about 3 cups. Chop garlic into fine pieces

2. Grind dry coconut with red chilies, pepper and cumin ( just for couple of seconds)

3. Wash mint leaves and add it to the mixer and make a coarse paste

4. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic, ground paste and fry until raw smell goes

5. Add tamarind water, turmeric powder and salt and bring it to boil in low flame ( takes about 7 to 8 minutes)

6. Add jaggery at this stage and switch off

7. Now season mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida in the remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil and add it to the rasam

Yummy mint rasam is ready to be served. This rasam will have a tangy sweet taste and goes well with any curry

Tips:

1. If you don't have dry coconut, dry roast grated coconut and use it. It gives the same flavor

2. Adjust the tamarind based on its sourness. I will recommend adding 1 cup of tamarind water first and check the taste and adjust afterwards

Egg Curry

2012-05-12T13:47:00.001-05:00

This is a very simple egg preparation, you can vary the spiceness in this by altering the portion of red chilly powder. This goes well with any rice dishes and I especially love it with any Rasam variety.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
1. Egg -3
2. Onion - 2
3. Tomato -2
4. Garlic - 4 to 5 pods
5. Ginger - small piece about an inch
5. Red chilly powder - 1 to 1.5 tablespoon
6. Salt - to taste
7. Oil - 3 tablespoons
8. Coriander leaves(Cilantro) - for garnishing

Preparation:

1. Hard boil the eggs in water.
2. Meanwhile prepare a wet masala paste with all other ingredients except oil and coriander leaves.
3. Once the eggs are boiled, peel them and make smaller slits. This is to make the masala blend with the eggs
4. Heat oil in a pan and add the wet masala paste and cook until raw smell leaves (around 5- 6 minutes)
5. Now add the boiled eggs and mix until it blends and cook for 4-5 minutes.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Spicy egg curry is ready to be served. It goes well with Rotis, Rice, dosas or idlies.

Paneer Masala Dosa

2012-05-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

Dosa is one of my favorite all time food and just love it with even a simpler chutney. But my husband is not a lover of dosa, until it has something special. So to make us both happy I decided to try some stuffed dosa, and with Paneer at home, how could I miss the scrumptious paneer dosa :) Dosas came out very well and crispy though I had used the store bought batter in this preparation.

Preparation Time(for masala) - 30 minutes

Ingredients:
For stuffing masala
1. Paneer (Cottage cheese) - 100 gms
2. Beans - 20
3. Carrot - 2
4. Onion - 1 medium size
5. Tomato - 1/2 medium size
6. Red chilly powder - 1 tablespoon
7. Garam Masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon
8. Turmeric powder - a pinch
9. Salt - to taste
10. Oil - 2 tablespoons
11. Coriander leaves - handful
For Dosa
1. Dosa batter
2. Oil -as required

Preparation:
This is a very simple and similar preparation to ordinary Masala dosa.
How to prepare Masala?
1. Finely chop all vegetables (beans, carrot, onion and tomato).
2. Grate paneer into fine pieces.
3. Heat oil in a pan and when hot, add onions and fry until transparent.
4. Add tomato and saute until it is cooked fine.
5. Add beans and carrot and cook them for 5-6 minutes. Since we chop them finely, it cooks easily.
6. Now add the spice powders - turmeric, chilly and garam masala and cook until raw smell leaves.
7. Add required salt and the grated paneer and saute for not more than 3-4 minutes. Paneer will get cook fast as we have grated it finely.
8. Garnish with coriander leaves.

How to prepare Dosa?
1. Heat dosa pan and use 2 ladles of batter and spread it thin (this will make your dosa crispy).
2. Spread 1/2 tablespoon of oil around the batter and close it with a lid to allow cooking for one minute.
3. By now the dosa would turn into golden brown.
4. Now spread the stuffing masala prepared earlier in middle of the dosa and start folding it. You can choose a shape of your choice :)

You can serve it alone or with Chutney's or Sambar. I prepared a three chutney's to compliment the dosa and they came out yummy as well!!

MOGG - A Mocktail

2012-04-28T23:23:00.000-05:00

MOGG - I Just abbreviated it from its ingredients - Mint Orange Ginger Grapes. Its been a long time I experimented my hands on the fruits, so decided to blend the fruits that I had at home with some healthy ingredients to make a tasty and healthy mocktail. This is my 100th posting on the blog that makes this mocktail even more special :)

Servings - 4

Ingredients:
1. Orange - 3
2. Grapes (red)- 15
3. Ginger - 1/4 inch
4. Mint Leaes - 3
5. Sugar- 3-4 spoons (vary according to your taste)
6. Salt - a pinch

Preparation:
1. Peel orange and add all other ingredients in blender and blend it with a glass of water.
2. Filter the juice and serve it (with ice cubes if required).

You can store it in refrigerator and serve it as required.

Drumstick Leaves Curry (முருங்கைகீரை பொறியல்)

2012-04-28T22:48:00.000-05:00

I am not really a big fan of drumstick leaves, but really got excited when I happened to see this in Indian grocery store recently. Though I knew cleaning up the leaves is a huge task, I decided to go for it and the dish came out well.

Drumstick leaves often has a bitter taste for which we use coconut to remove excessive bitterness. This is a very basic dish from the leaves, but please take care to clean the leaves well before use.

Servings -4

Ingredients:

1. Drumstick leaves - 1/2 pound

2. Onion - 1 finely chopped

3. Red chilies -3 to 4

4. Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

5. Urad dhal - 1 teaspoon

6. Asafoetida - a pinch

7. Oil - 1 tablespoon

8. Coconut - grated 4 tablespoons

9. Salt- to taste

Preparation:

1. The very important step of this dish is to clean and separate the leaves from stems and wash them thoroughly and drain it.

2. Heat oil in a pan and season it with mustard seeds, urad dhal, asafoetida and red chilies.

3. Add onions, drumstick leaves, salt and saute it well. Sprinkle little water and cook the leaves by closing a lid in medium flame.

4. When the leaves are cooked add the grated coconut and mix well.

Healthy, tasty drumstick leaves poriyal is ready to be served.

Chow Chow Pachadi (Raita)

2012-03-24T23:04:00.001-05:00

Here is a very simple recipe with chayote squash (chow chow or bangalore Kathrikai as we call it back home). I never thought this vegetable in raita, until I saw this recipe in one of the cookery shows and definitely wanted to give it a a try. It really came out very well.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 3-4
Ingredient:
1. Chow Chow (Chayote Squash) - 1
2. Grated Coconut - 3 tablespoon
3. Red chilies - 3
4. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
5. Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
6. Curry leaves - 2 to 3
7. Curd - 4-5 tablespoon
8. Turmeric powder - a pinch
9. Oil - 1 tablespoon
10. Salt - to taste
11. Curry leaves - 3 to 4

Preparation:
1. Peel the skin and grate the squash finely.
2. Cook it with little water for 6-8 minutes in the microwave or stove
3. Meanwhile, make a fine paste of coconut, red chilies and cumin seeds and little water.
4. Add this paste to the cooked squash and cook it again for 4-5 minutes in microwave or stove.
5. Add the required salt and curd.
6. Season it with mustard seeds, turmeric powder and curry leaves.

Serve it with any rice. It would be a nice combination with any pulav and briyani as a variation from regular onion raita.

Wheat Halwa (கோதுமை ஹல்வா)

2012-03-18T14:29:00.000-05:00

Godhumai Halwa (Wheat Halwa)... the only sweet I crave for anytime. My avva (grandma) prepares this sweet for me every year on my birthday. She makes it finger licking good and any guest to our house for whom we have served this sweet, has definitely packed it too when they left :) Of course the main ingredient of this recipe is whole lot of love, affection and patience to prepare the dish with the most care. I had been carving for this sweet sometime now, and took the recipe from her and tried it for the first time..voilà... It turned out as yummy as I wanted it to be... but definitely missing my grandma's love in it.
Try this recipe yourself and enjoy the delicious sweet. You will need lots of patience and slow cooking process to make this dish a success.

Preparation Time : 1 hour

Ingredients:
1. Wheat Flour - 1 cup
2. Sugar - 1 1/2 cups (if your sugar is not so sweet, you can use 2 cups of sugar)
3. Ghee - as required
4. Cashews/Almonds/Pista - chopped 2 -3 tablespoons
5. Kesari Colour - small pinch
6. Saffron - few strands
7. Cardamom - 3 to 4 (powdered)

Preparation:
1. Add colour to the wheat flour and prepare a batter by mixing with water. Do not make it watery, keep the consistency of Bajji batter.
2. Dissolve the sugar in 1/2 cup of water and bring it to boil. Keep stirring until it forms a thick syrup. To determine if you reached the right consistency drop some syrup in cold water and it should float without sticking to the water.
3. Now add the batter you prepared earlier to the syrup with continuous stirring. Reduce the flame to low.
4. From this step is where your patience is very important :). You need to frequently stir and never leave from your stove.
5. As you see the flour gets cooked and turns into solid consistency, start adding Ghee - 2 tablespoons at a time, and keep stirring. You will have to keep adding more as it becomes dry.
6. You will now see the halwa coming out well without sticking to the pan and leaving the ghee around.
7. Now its time to add the garnish. Fry the chopped nuts in a tablespoon of ghee, and add it to the halwa along with saffron strands and the powdered cardamom.
I added 2 more tablespoons of ghee finally, to give it enough moisture. You can reduce ghee as per your like.
Yummy yummy halwa is ready...

Tips:
1. This sweet tastes richer and better only if you let it rest for atleast couple of hours. Believe me, it becomes so delicious on the second day :)
2. Store the halwa in air tight container in the refrigerator and just heat it for couple of minutes before you serve. The frozen ghee will leave the halwa give it an appealing look and finger licking taste. It will stay good for 7 - 10 days if refrigerated.
3. If you have added more water when preparing the batter, and the halwa remains watery, you can sprinkle some flour as you keep stirring to bring it back to the consistency.
4. In this preparation, I had to use Atta flour, and the taste was as good as using the whole wheat flour.

Paneer Egg Masala

2012-03-13T13:03:00.001-05:00

It was a Sunday afternoon with just egg and paneer at home. I wanted to make something different, yet tasty and simple and decided to marry the egg and paneer for a spicy dish :) Here is the recipe for the hot dish.

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Quantity for 4 servings

Ingredients:

1. Paneer - 250 gms

2. Egg - 4

3. Onions - 1 finely chopped

4. Tomato - 1 finely chopped

5. Red chilly powder - 1 tablespoon

6. Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tablespoon

7. Ginger/garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon

8. Garam masala - 1 teaspoon (Optional)

9. Oil - 3 tablesoon

10. Salt - to taste

11. Coriander - for garnishing

Preparation:
1. Chop onions and tomatoes into fine pieces and cut paneer into small cubes
2. Break the eggs in a bowl and beat it.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add onions and fry well. Add ginger garlic paste and fry well until raw smell goes
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook well.
5. Now add the powders one by one - red chilly powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt and cook for 2 minutes.
6. Add the egg mixture and mix well to form scrambled egg mixture for 2 minutes.
7. Its time to add the paneer cubes to the pan and stir well to cook along with the spices in low flame for 5-7 minutes until paneer becomes soft.
8. Hot and spicy paneer egg masala is ready. Garnish with coriander leaves.

I served it with hot Simple Rasam for the afternoon and it was a perfect combination. We also had it with roti for dinner.

Mushroom Coriander masala

2012-03-10T17:23:00.001-06:00

Here is a simple and tasty dish from the marriage of coriander and mushroom :) It was a very good combination with rice and also will go well with rotis/chapathis/dosa/idly.
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Quantity given is for 4 servings.
Ingredients:
1. Mushroom - 250 gms
2. Onion - 1 medium
3. Tomato - 1 medium
4. Red chilly powder - 1 1/2 tablespoon
5. Coriander powder - 1 tablespoon
6. Turmeric powder - a pinch
7. Fennel seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
8. Oil
9. Salt to taste

For masala
1. Coriander leaves - 2 handful
2. Ginger - 1/2 inch
3. Garlic - 2 cloves
4. Fennel seeds - 1/2 tablespoon

Preparation:
1. Wash the mushrooms, dry and cut them into pieces. Chop onions and tomatoes into fine pieces
2. Prepare a wet paste with the ingredients given for masala. If you prefer to use green chilies instead of red chilly powder, you can grind it with the other ingredients.
3. Heat oil in a pan and when hot, add fennel seeds and onions and fry until it turns golden brown.
4. Add tomatoes and saute well. Add turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder and cook for couple of minutes
5. Now add the mushrooms and mix well. Let it cook for 5 minutes in a medium flame.
6. When the mushrooms are half done, add salt and the ground mixture and stir well.
7. Close with a lid and cook for another 5-7 minutes in low flame
8. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Tips:
1. You can vary this recipe with other vegetables like potato/cauliflower and also with chicken/mutton.
2. Add some roasted coconut when you grind the masala for an enhanced flavor.

Rice roti

2012-02-18T08:28:00.000-06:00

This is one of my favorite items for the fact it can be prepared in a lesser duration when I am so lazyyy:)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients: (quantity for 6 rotis)

1. Rice flour - 150 gms
2. Onion - finely chopped (2 handful)
3. Green chilies - 3 finely chopped
4. Coriander and curry leaves - finely chopped 1 tablespoon
5. Salt to taste
6. Oil

Preparation:
1. Make a dough (in chapathi dough consistency) with Rice flour, onions, green chilies, coriander, curry leaves, salt, oil and water as required.
2. Rest it for 5-10 minutes

3. Make balls from the dough.
4. Spread few drops of oil in a clean plastic sheet and start spreading the ball on top of it to make an even circle

5. Heat the dosa tawa and spread few drops of oil and start cooking the roti. Turn sides until and cook until it becomes golden brown on each side.

Hot rice roti is ready to serve. I served it with a simple mixed Chutney (made of onion,tomatoes and coconut).

Paneer Pin Wheels

2011-11-26T21:04:00.000-06:00

Bored on a saturday evening and wanting to try something different and tasty, I ended up with this recipe. I realized I had some pastry puff left over after the last time I made vegetable puffs for my guests at home and decided to try something with Paneer. I really wanted to post step by step pictures recipe for this, but unfortunately missed to take pictures :( I will manage to edit and repost this with the step by step pictures sooner. Enjoy the mouth watering pin wheels

Preparation Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Paneer - 100 gms
2. Pepperidge farm Puff pastry - 1
3. Onion - 1 meidum size
4. Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
5. Red chilly powder - 1/2 tablespoon
6. Garam Masala powder - 1/4 teaspoon
7. Salt - to taste
8. Oil - 1 tablespoon
9. Butter - to coat the wheels
10. Coriander leaves - handful
For Mint Chutney
1. Mint leaves - 20-30 leaves
2. Green chillies - 1

Preparation:

Thaw the Puff pastry per the instructions given in the pack. I generally thaw it at room temperature as I start preparing my filling.

Filling
1. Grate paneer finely and chop onions into fine pieces
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and when hot add cumin seeds, onions and fry them until onion turns golder brown.
3. Add the grated paneer, red chilly powder, salt, garam masala and cook it for 5- 6 minutes in low-medium flame. Since we have grated the paneer finely, it will cook quickly.

Mint Chutney:
Make a fine paste with mint leaves and green chillies with a pinch of salt.

Making Pin Wheels
By now, the pastry sheet would have thawed well and ready to use.

1. Roll the pastry sheet with little flour (AP flour/Maida flour).
2. Now spread the Mint chutney all over the sheet.
3. Spread the paneer mixture over the mint chutney and finely chopped coriander leaves.
4. Start rolling the pastry from one side. Use water to seal when closing on the other end
5. Slice into wheels of required size and brush it with melted butter.
6. Spread the baking sheet over the baking tray and place the wheels without touching one another.
7. Precook the oven at 350 degrees and bake it for 10-12 minutes. Check once or twice during the baking.

Hot and spicy paneer roll is ready to serve. Serve it with tomato ketchup

Tips:
1. Place the roll before slicing in freezer for 10 minutes to make the slicing easier
2. If you don't like it too spicy, you can reduce the amount of chilly powder.

Egg Kuzhambu (உடைத்த முட்டை குழம்பு)

2011-09-04T22:52:00.000-05:00

I am quiet bored of the egg gravies and curries I usually prepare with boiled eggs. This is one of the variations I tasted in my Chennai Grandma's house and grabbed the recipe from her. The first time I tried it almost a year back, this became my husband's favorite too. This is really very simple to make and also can be served as a side dish with Idlis/dosas/chapathis or with rice.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1. Eggs - 4
2. Onion -1 big thinly chopped
3. Tomatoes - 2 medium sized finely chopped
4. Green chillies - 2 vertically split
5. Curry leaves - 2 to 3
6. Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
7. Urad dhal - 1/2 tablespoon
8. Oil - 3 tablespoon
9. Salt to Taste
10. Coriander leaves for garnishing.

For Masala

1. Grated coconut -
2. Pepper - 1/2 tablespoon
3. Red chilly powder - 1 tablespoon
4. Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tablespoon
5. Turmeric powder - a pinch
6. Fennel Seeds - 1 tablespoon
7. Ginger - a small piece (about 1/2 inch)
8. Garlic - 2
9. Curry leaves - 3 to 4
10. Mint leaves - 4 to 5
11. Cloves - 2
12. Cinnamon - a small stick(abount 1/2 inch)

Preparation:
1. Prepare a wet paste with all ingredients given for masala.
2. Heat oil in a pan and season with mustard seeds, urad dhal, green chillies, curry leaves and onions by adding one by one.
3. When the onion turns transparent, add tomatos and cook well for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the paste made in step 1, salt and mix it well. Add around 1 1/2 cups of water and cook the mixture for 5 to 6 minutes.
5. Break the eggs one by one (they should be separate and not touching each other) into the boiling mixture.
6. Cook for 10 minutes in medium low by covering with a lid. Turn the eggs without breaking at half time.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice/idli/dosa/chapathi.

Tips:

1. Try using a wide pan for the eggs to cook without mixing with each other.

Mint-Spinach Paneer/Chicken Kebab

2011-09-04T14:02:00.000-05:00

It was heavily raining and we had a tornado warning that evening and I reached home early and both of us wanted to have something spicy and it was time for me to try this recipe and we also ended up naming it "Mint-Spinach Flavored Triple Tornado Grill". On our first camping trip with our friends, I repeated this with Chicken.

Preparation Time: 2 hours for marination; 20 minutes cooking time

Ingredients:

1. Paneer - 250 gms
2. Onion - 1
3. Bell Peppers (Capsicum) - All colors each one
4. Lemon Juice - 2 - 3 tablespoon
5. White pepper - for garnishing

6. Oil - to cook

Marinade:
1. Spinach leaves - 25-30
2. Mint leaves - 4 to 5
3. Coriander leaves - 4-5 stings
4. Green chillies - 2
5. Red chilly powder - 1 tablespoon
6. cloves - 3
7. Cinnamon - 2-3 small sticks
8. Cardamom - 1
9. Bay leaves - 1 small
10. Fennel seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
11. Pepper - 4-5
12. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tablespoon
13. Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tablespoon
14. Yoghurt - 3-4 tablespoon
15. Salt - to taste

Preparation:
1. Wash all greens and blend them along with the other ingredients given for marination into a fine paste.

2. Cut paneer,onions and bell peppers into cubes of 1 inch size and gently poke the pieces with a fork, add the paste and mix it well.

3. Keep it refrigerated for 1 - 2 hours.

4. Heat a pan and 2 tables spoons of oil and shallow fry the paneer pieces few at a time for not more than 2-3 minutes. Repeat the process until all the paneer pieces and keep it aside.

5. Pre heat the oven at 350 degrees.

6. Apply oil on the skewers and skew the fried paneers, bell peppers, onoins alternatively as a colorful combination.

7. Place a baking sheet on a tray, place the skewers and cook it in the oven for 7-8 minutes rotating sides at half time.

8. Remove it from the oven, squeze lime juice and sprinkle some white pepper and serve it hot.

Tips:

1. You can try this recipe with Chicken or any other vegetables.

2. If you are planning to try this dish in a camping site, you can skip step 4 and grill it directly. You will have to cook for few extra minutes.